Monday, 22 January 2018

Well-led review and CIPs

I talked last week about the well-led review that is being undertaken. Interviews have been taking place over the last week and I have had a feedback session with the independent review team.

I'd like to thank people for their support in undertaking this review, which I believe will provide a foundation from which to make lasting change and improvements here at Pennine Care. I appreciate people's honesty and encourage it. The findings of the review will be shared with the whole Board of Directors in February and we will then use it to formulate an improvement plan. This also ties in with the cultural audit that the organisational development team will be undertaking over the next few months, again I have talked about this in my blog before and will provide more detail when the time comes.

We have been having a major refocus on our cost improvement programme (CIP as you will know it) for the remainder of this year and next financial year. The good news is that it looks like our deficit at the end of this year will be more like -£5 million as opposed to the -£6.6 million expected. This is due to the Trust including some additional funding from commissioners in the forecast. This money has been allocated to alleviate existing pressures within mental health inpatient areas. I fully appreciate how difficult it is for staff to make budget reductions now. We cannot simply top slice budgets any more. So, I am working with colleagues to develop a new approach for how we will deliver a CIP, which involves bigger change programmes, cross-cutting themes and corporate efficiencies. It will require a great deal of collaboration and engagement across the Trust and with our partners, so expect to be involved in this at some point.

As things are really starting to ramp up now, I may not be able to post a blog each and every week but I will aim to provide an update at least every fortnight. Thank you for continuing to read my blog, I read all of your feedback and comments, which has been really positive. Please keep them coming!